Steve Ballmer's announcement that Microsoft will soon release a public beta of Windows 7 has generated mixed reactions among users. While some expressed interest in Windows 7, others were skeptical that Microsoft can turn around its operating system business and make a strong product.
On an Ars Technica forum page, a user identifying himself as VibeDog questioned Ballmer's claims of improved performance in Windows 7. "Has Microsoft learned nothing from the Vista launch?...Release an improved OS and the performance will speak for itself. The self-marketing that preceded Vista sunk it before it was ever put out to sea."
"Resonator80," writing at the bottom of an InformationWeek article, echoed this concern. "My complaint with Windows (XP in my case) is the number of crashes, slowdowns and other flaws," the comment said. "Are these eliminated by W7? If not, what is the point?"
On Computerworld, a user who claimed to be a long-time PC tech support worker said Microsoft's problem wasn't Vista, but rather interface updates to Office. "People who thought they knew Word suddenly couldn't find the print button," the user said. "Vista is a good operating system, better than XP, but my clients wouldn't migrate because of what they had heard."
Another Computerworld reader questioned whether many people would actually try the Windows 7 public beta. "First MS releases W7 to P2P's....that didn't spark any interest," the anonymous reader wrote. "Now its released to the public...who cares?"
Someone else shot back, "a lot of people care...You watch as the 2.5 million downloads are consumed like there's no tomorrow."
Comments
Win7 aka Vista is now smoking M$ servers, which goes to prove what has been said all along, "the reason people are not upgrading is they're flat broke and getting dumb as rocks."
Give them a free OS and they go bonkers, even if it is Vista in a new wrapper. Although you still will have dumb as rocks people trying to make thieir 7 year old OS work with new programs.
Microsoft is a victim of its own success. The company that usurped IBM and created an industry is now trapped by it. Bold moves are no longer possible or even thinkable. If Vista had been a 4GB, 64-bit only "next thing," the response from early adopters would have been qualified at worst. But Intel and Microsoft are too big for real next things; their appetites for revenue are too huge. Microsoft fears Apple and Linux. The also fear getting old and slow and turning into another CDC/Univac/Sperry/Boroughs/Wang/DG/NCR/DEC with feet of clay. Who at Microsoft would have the courage to say, "we will build an open source OS (e.g., Linux) that competes with Windows" and live to see their next paycheck?
Post new comment